Tag: Twitter (Page 1 of 2)

The ‘Twitter Files’ segment on Twitter is exploding as Matt Taibbi walks us through on how and why Hunter Biden’s laptop story was suppressed on the social media giant’s platform.

In this article, I’m going to break down the key highlights of the ‘Twitter Files’ part 1.

Let’s get started!

You can follow me on Twitter for more market news and updates.

“Twitter Wasn’t Always Like This”

Matt Taibbi says that in the beginning, Twitter more than lived up to its statement, “the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”

But at some point, this statement was completely manipulated.

That is, when both Democrats and Republicans gained access to directly influence what was allowed on Twitter and what wasn’t.

At first, tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and grifters, or financial fraudsters.

Over time, Twitter staff began to take advantage of this leverage tool by accepting speech manipulation on the platform from outside sources.

And apparently, CEO Jack Dorsey had no idea this was occurring!

By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine.

Email exchanges would read: “More to review from the Biden team.”

The reply would come back: “Handled.”

According to Taibbi, celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or held for review on the behalf of a political party.

A Major Imbalance Between Democrats and Republicans

While both Democrats and Republicans had access to these tools, the system wasn’t balanced.

Because Twitter was overwhelmingly staffed by people of democratic political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, and more opportunities for Democrats to take advantage of than there was for the Republican party.

Twitter Political Contributors

In 2018, Democrats contributed $295,722 to Twitter while Republicans only contributed $11,100 for access to manipulate speech on the platform.

2020 showed a massive jump in contributions from the Democratic party, totaling to $909,431.

The Twitter files shows us that Democrats tampered with elections in 2020 by removing content on Twitter that interfered with their campaign.

One of the biggest coverups being Hunter Biden’s laptop story.

Let’s dive into it.

Why Hunter Biden’s Laptop Story Was Hidden

On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published ‘Biden Secret Emails‘, an exposed based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop.

Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links, and posting warnings that it may be “unsafe”, says Taibbi.

The transmissions to share via direct message were blocked, a tool that is reserved for extreme cases, such as child *ornography.

White House spokeswoman Kaleigh McEnany was locked out of her account for sharing the story on Twitter.

This also led public policy executive Caroline Strom to reach out to the Twitter team regarding the unusual circumstances.

Twitter’s response to Strom was that Hunter Biden’s laptop story had been removed for violation of the company’s “hacked materials” policy.

According to Matt Taibbi, these decisions were made from those with the highest levels of authority in the company without the knowledge of from former CEO Jack Dorsey.

Head of legal, policy, and trust Vijaya Gadde played a key role.

“They just freelanced it,” is how a former employee characterized the decision.

A Violation of the 1st Amendment

Democratic congressman Ro Khanna reached out to Gadde in efforts to hop on a call and discuss the backlash on ‘re speech’.

“Khanna was the only Democratic official I could find in the files who expressed concern, says Taibbi.”

“Hope you’re well Vijaya! But this seems a violation of the 1st Amendment principles. If there is a hack or classified information or other information that could expose a serious war crime and the NYT was to publish it, I think the NYT should have that right.”

“A journalist should not be held accountable for the illegal actions of the source unless they actively aided the hack. So to restrict the distribution of that material, especially regarding a Presidential candidate, seems not in the keeping of the principles of NYT v Sulivan“, said Ro Khanna.

This has been part 1 to the ‘Twitter Files’ exposing why Twitter blocked Hunter Biden’s Laptop story and how Democrats were able to influence the election by suppressing a story that had the potential to sway public opinion.

If you enjoyed this breakdown please share it.

You can follow me on Twitter.